Ten Reasons to Elope
to the Amazing Lake District
By CAROLINE LANGHAM
Ten reasons why a Lake District elopement wedding might be right for you
Are you engaged to be married but unsure what style of wedding you want? But you know you would like a relaxed, stress-free wedding, in an idyllic setting. Somewhere special where it is private, with exclusive use, and the focus is all about the two of you and the love you share for each other.
Why not think about a Lake District Elopement Wedding?
Here are ten reasons to elope to the Lake Dsitrict as that idyllic destination wedding for just the two of you.
Why Elope?
Traditionally when we think of eloping, we imagine a bride scrambling from her bedroom window, escaping the family home to elope with her sweetheart in the dead of night.
Modern elopements tend to be less about running away in secret, and more about a slimmed down wedding focused on “Just The Two Of You”. Many do include a select number of close family or friends. The emphasis being on a more relaxed, informal, and private wedding perhaps in a more unusual destination wedding location.
Ten Reasons to Elope
1. Simplicity - It’s more about the TWO of YOU
It’s so easy to get carried away on the ‘Wedding Train’ and lose focus of why you wanted to get married in the first place. Keeping it simple, it’s more about the love that you hold for each other, and how you want to make those life affirming commitments to each other.
Elopements, by being smaller and shorter, are more focused on the wedding ceremony itself, the sentiment behind the vows, the intimacy and privacy, rather than the party you feel you need to throw to keep your guests entertained. Designed just for yourselves… you can be selfish, indulgent, and exclusive, by not feeling obliged to anyone else.
2. You get to Choose When and Where
You may start out with ideas of a destination wedding somewhere special to the two of you, but as the wedding train gets bigger the needs of your guests become a major consideration. Are they able and willing to make the journey? How will they get there? Where they will stay? Can they get baby sitters, or time off school?
This is particularly important if a mid-week wedding is an attractive option for you. Many wedding venues offer generous savings midweek and dates are more readily available, compared to weekends.
Having fewer guests naturally increases your options when trying to find your perfect wedding venue, plus opting for a midweek wedding can save you waiting time and money.
You may like the idea of your wedding being a part of a bigger adventure, and with less strain on your budget you could splash out a little more to combine your destination wedding with an epic honeymoon.
3. Are you Short on Time Or don't want a long engagement?
Traditionally elopements were arranged in secret… There’s a lot to be said for this of course!
But if you don’t want to keep it a secret, or you are not good at keeping a secret, why wait?
Short notice weddings are becoming very popular and let’s not over complicate this… The smaller and simpler the wedding then the easier it is to arrange.
You need a date, the two of you, two witnesses, and a registrar. Legal notices are required but even these can be done in 30 days or sooner if you have special circumstances and need to be married sooner.
Steve and I make fab witnesses!
Take a look at our “Short Notice Weddings.”
4. do you want to Minimise the Stress?
Beware the experts. It’s great to receive advice, tips, do’s & don’ts – but don’t lose sight of your original vision, your own dreams, based around your own style and budget.
You announce your engagement then suddenly everyone becomes an expert wedding planner.
Eloping eliminates the obligation often felt in trying to keep everyone appeased. It’s so easy to get caught up in the Bridezilla frenzy – does it matter if your shoes are not quite the right shade of ivory? The more you allow others to influence your thinking the higher your stress levels will be.
5. Is the guest list getting out of hand?
So many times I hear from couples who have happily decided on guest lists and found a venue perfect for their needs… Then for reasons outside their control (usually financial supporters), they are pressured into accommodating guests they have never even met. I recall one very distresses bride; “I never even knew he had an Auntie Eileen!”
Distant cousins, work colleagues and plus ones, are often the topic of heated debate. A smaller guest list requires a smaller budget, less financial pressure, and possibly no need for additional financial support. This gives you the freedom and flexibility you need to remain in control.
Do you even need a guest list at all? You can still have your cake and eat it too by eloping!
6. do you have other plans for your budget?
According to the Telegraph, The Guardian and The Independent, the average cost of a UK wedding in 2017 was more than £27,000.
Think about what the important key elements to your wedding are. Maybe you could ditch the wedding favours, the wedding car, the wedding singer, the cake of many colours and flavours. Then there’s the gluten free, the traditional fruit, and of course the dairy free layer!
Maybe ditch the official wedding photographer. Though I hasten to add, there are many great photographers out there that specialise in elopement wedding photography. After all, the memories are priceless, and a Lake District elopement Wedding will be amid stunning backdrops – whatever the weather!
7. spending more time seeing to everyone else needs? sick of Menu Headaches?
When the menus go out to your enormous guest list with the statutory request for any special diets, you may need to brace yourselves! The ever-growing list of food allergies and dietary intolerances that you must accommodate just keeps growing.
Medical conditions are of course one thing and as such are extremely important, but now you are faced with a major operation in coordinating various fads, which on balance are not going to cause extreme upset, yet you feel obliged to accommodate. This often results in altering your preferred menu choices for other more suitable options, but not what you would really love to eat on your own wedding day.
8. worried about The Politics of the Seating Plan?
The seating plan – the strategic placement of estranged guests is fast becoming an art form. Is a top table really you? Do you really need to cut the cake?
Are you planning to embarrass yourself with a first dance performance to please the guests?
Do you really have to stand up and make a speech?
Elopements, by definition, are for the rule breakers and those that defy tradition, so have some fun and think creatively!
9. do you want to get married or want a wedding? Who are you trying to impress?
Firstly who do you upset when choosing, or rather, not choosing your bridesmaids and best man/men? How are you going to decide on outfits to suit everyone with so many different skin tones and body shapes? Not forgetting that you can’t upstage the bride.
With elopement weddings there is no need to ‘Dress to Impress’ your guests – You just need to wow yourselves and each other!
Back on the wedding train we see speeches evolving, with interactive quizzes, over-sized white screens and embarrassing slideshows more focused on the competition between university friends than appropriateness for your wedding.
10. Friends and Family Elopements
Modern elopements are not always with secret runaway couples, though this is still desirable for many as it keeps the stress levels down!
If you really can’t contemplate a wedding without those very special people in your life being present, then you can still have a small, more intimate, wedding – so instead of thinking 100, think 10.
Consider our smaller more intimate weddings if elopements are not quite big enough.
Read up on our Elopement Wedding Options here
